Here a few of my books and the soundtracks playing on my
iPod, in my car, and my imagination as I wrote them.
I was deep into the trenches of writing “Caitlin Star” when “The
Dark Knight Rises” premiered and Hans Zimmer’s score for that film is the
perfect soundtrack for ‘Caitlin Star”—especially “Gotham’s Reckoning”.
There are many more musical influences on the creation of “Caitlin
Star”—enough to put out several “music from and inspired by” albums in addition
to the score soundtrack. The music would include “General Grevious” by John
Wiliams from “Revenge of the Sith”, the famous “Star Trek” fight music by
Gerald Fried, and the alternative rock/pop bands Garbage, Paramore, and Imagine
Dragons.
“Action Figure” has
been described as “24” meets “Falling Down” and the fast paced fatalistic
adventures of Wes Jackson can only be scored with one type of music—action!
The musical muse for “Action Figure” was “The Lost World”, the
underrated John William’s propulsive and percussive score to Steven Spielberg’s
disappointing sequel to “Jurassic Park”. The film may have a ton of problems, but
the score is nothing short of a masterwork. “The Lost World” contains some of
the most exciting, aggressive, intricate, complex, and relentless action music of
the maestro’s career. The brooding main
theme may lack the majestic wonder of William’s “Jurassic Park” classic, but it
is an addictive listen and a perfect fit for the nihilistic tone of “Action
Figure”.
Video Noir
For the virtual reality techo-thriller the initial musical inspiration
was not a score but a song—“Here With Me” by Dido. The dreamy lyrics and hypnotic
melody make this the perfect song to encapsulate the video based romance blossoming
between Caitlin Blue and Rick Blazer.
Of course there is a score soundtrack that I immersed in as
I created the world of “Video Noir”, John William’s action noir “Minority
Report”.
When my lifelong obsession with “She” began to crystalize in
novel form, the musical embodiment of the mysterious journey into the past was
Jerry Goldsmith’s “Basic Instinct”.
“Basic Instinct’s” score is structured around a swirling,
spooky, hypnotic main theme introduced in track one, “Main Theme”. It is a
haunting, fluid musical texture that immediately draws the listener in to
experience a symphony of dark wonders. The theme is layered in and out of the
score at multiple points and on various cues at different tempos of urgency,
reminding us of the forbidden femme fatale character who J.C. Pezzini has spent
his life searching for.
Gunner Star is a unique case in “scoring” the book—because
the title character is a self-professed Jerry Goldsmith fan (“the best composer
since Beethoven”) and listens to soundtracks throughout the story. So the novel
is essentially scored with source music including the soundtracks to “Planet of
the Apes”, “Rambo: First Blood Part II”, “Total Recall” and “The 13the Warrior”.
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